Modern society by its nature inflicts pressure on most of us including demands of responsibilities at our places of work coupled with issues from our private family life and the responsibilities for caring and nurturing a family for those who are parents or those responsible for the upbringing of children. In addition to the work related pressures and family pressures there are also general economic pressures arising out of the dwindling economic fortunes of several countries facing global economic recession. With all of this, it is therefore most important that one works out a means by which the mind is fully unwound, relaxed and relieved from pressure in order to refresh it and get it ready to face up to the challenges of living in a modern world. My cure for stress and pressure is reading. Even though it seems a little odd that a burnt out mind from work should seek relaxation through reading; it is peculiar that the mind fully and spiritually distinguishes between reading for work and reading for leisure. When the mind is used in reading for work it brings along with it the heaviness of work but when the mind reads for leisure it completely detaches all weight from its orbit. Even though the input is the same; typed words, the human brain has the uncanny ability to switch on to rest mode when it wishes while performing the same type of activity. It clearly distinguishes between work related and rest related reading.
If reading be the solution then the next question is what to read. In my opinion fiction trumps all other genres in order to help achieve mental relaxation through reading. It seems that the appreciation of the fact that what one is reading is not a true story enables one to flow into the story which is the product of the writers mind. How to choose which fiction to read is yet another issue facing the reader of fiction for relaxation especially in view of the vast plethora of novellas, novels and short stories written by literally hundreds of thousands of existing authors and many more new authors in this cyber rage of high speed boundless internet activity interconnecting almost every known location on earth. Certainly some good fiction which has not made it to bestseller status will escape the eye of the reader and the strength and entertainment value of the story may remain lost to readers. One such novel which has been discovered of recent by keen avid readers is entitled 'The Judas Factor' by Michael. E. Ellah.
Even the story, or more accurately the history of the novel is a story worth recounting in itself and has it that The Judas factor was written about twenty five years ago by a young lawyer who had always engendered from childhood an interest in the literary arts and it (the novel) had been accepted for publication in 1987 to 1988. Thereafter the publishing company that accepted the novel for publication became financially unable to fulfill its obligation on the publication of this novel it returned the original typed manuscript to the author after several rewrites and copyediting had been completed , this was misplaced when the author and his family moved house a couple of times over a period of twenty five odd years. The author's children discovered the manuscript several years later, read it and felt that every effort should be made not to allow the story disappear unpublished. In a nutshell the story in the novel(without giving away too much of the plot) involves the activities of Mustapha Abdul Rahman a drug baron and underworld leader with operations in South America , Africa(Nigeria) and Europe arranges to sacrifice one of his drug couriers framed in the process of trying to smuggle a large quantity of cocaine to the United Kingdom. Because of this the courier is arrested and executed in keeping with the harsh dictates of the ruling military government at the time in Nigeria.
The executed courier had been involved emotionally in an illicit affair with the fianc? of Mustapha. This affair provides an opportunity to look inside the very hearts of the characters in this story and as a back story Mustapha is also involved in a treasonable plot to oust the military government in a coup d'?tat. As all of the events in the novel take place there is an investigation into the affairs of Mustapha and his organization by a retired policeman related to the executed courier. The characters in this novel are connected by the incident of the death of the drug courier eventually find that their actions lead them to betray one another thereby providing the setting for this riveting story whose central characters portray the qualities of Judas Iscariot in the Bible. This story is recommended for its well paced style of writing, its racy and unpredictable plot its 'visualizationability' (a word coined by me) meaning that as one reads it is so clearly envisioned in the mind. It should be noted that this is an important quality when reading for unwinding and relaxation this is often an essential ingredient for choosing a story for cinematic purposes. It is an action thriller with a good sprinkling of love, murder, mystery, death a little horror and plenty of suspense. This dose of holiday unwinding can be accessed at The Judas Factor Website
After The Judas Factor was accepted for publication by Spectrum Books Ltd in 1987 and contracts entered into between the author and the publisher, delays and cancellation were the first obstacles faced by the novel on its journey to publication.
Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/how-to-totally-unwind-during-the-holidays-309267
amber portwood Phyllis Diller Darla Moore newsweek Tony Scott UFC 151 empire state building
No comments:
Post a Comment